Unhappy to Get off the Bed

Brenda has snarled and snapped at me just twice. The first time it happened, I was in a hurry to get to work one night—rushing around trying to get the dogs situated, and Brenda in her crate because Ben would be home before me. She was sleeping in her bed and I haphazardly tried to pick her up and scoot her to the crate. She wasn’t pleased. She could of bitten me, of course, had she wanted to, but she didn’t even get off her bed. Those teeth of hers certainly scared me, though. When I jumped away she looked at me as if she had no idea why I was so startled—a little dumbfounded cock of her head and floppy ears folded all the way forward. I wanted to smile, but I couldn’t. Instead I closed her inside the room (though not her crate) and rushed to work.

The second time she went after me was because I attempted to scoot her off of my bed. She may have been sleeping at the time but I don’t think so. She’s not allowed on my bed and usually jumps off right away when I catch her on it and say “off.” This time she just looked at me and I went over to manually lift her off. She let out a rumble and then a burst of snarling. I ran into the kitchen and she followed me. I quickly threw the baby gate up, ran into the corner and grabbed a broom. I was saddened more than terrified. What would this mean for her future? What if I couldn’t even trust her? I peered around the corner and she was on her own bed with that same goofy, cocked-head expression as if wondering why I was acting so weird.

Nothing like this has happened since. I haven’t stopped getting her up out of her bed, though now I make sure she is completely awake by shaking her a little bit before. She just goes limp and lets me lift her out. I do not lift her off my bed anymore, but coaxing her off if she doesn’t immediately respond to “off” is working. Her chances of getting on my bed are very rare these days, though, since her freedom is so limited inside the apartment because I’m housetraining her.